Power quality has become increasingly important for industrial and commercial electric power customers, particularly as today’s manufacturing and control processes rely on computerized equipment which is sensitive to power system interruptions and disturbances.
Eltec International can provide solutions to existing power quality problems, alleviate problems that may be looming in a power system, and provide recommendations to ensure optimal power quality for facilities under construction or renovation.
Power quality problems can affect your productivity and your bottom line. We have the experience, know-how, and technology to identify, solve, and oftentimes prevent problems. Our services, including site surveys, computer simulations, and equipment sensitivity assessments are invaluable tools for improving power system performance.
Common Power Quality Problems
Through our work with all sorts of facilities, we've identified three significant types of power quality problems that can impact customer operations:
While we do facility power system studies, we look at a range of specific issues, such as:
Solving PQ Problems
Eltec International uses a wide range of techniques and tools to find, study, and correct power quality problems. Monitoring and field measurements are a key element in the problem-solving process. We use a combination of fixed and portable monitoring instruments to detect and analyse disturbances on both the utility and consumer side, as well as at key process points and other locations. This monitoring helps us to locate where problems are occurring, and determine their potential cause(s) and solution(s).
We also use computer based simulation software to model your power system and to perform "what if" analyses to determine power system vulnerability and identify potential problems, as well as possible solutions. We verify the software simulated model against the measurement results.
Our goal is to prescribe solution that is effective, cost-efficient, and won't cause problems for either you or the utility. We look at a wide range of corrective measures, including, to providing a range of cost-effective options for mitigation.
How Power Quality Can Impact You
The question "What is power quality?" has many different answers, depending on whether you talk to utilities, equipment manufacturers, or power customers. There is a wide range of factors that can cause power quality problems in your facility. Our experience has shown that power quality problems are compounded by the difficulty of identifying potential causes. This is primarily because the cause may be within your facility or hundreds of miles away on the utility power grid. Power quality investigations focus on the cost impact of power problems. These can include
Each problem can generate a number of these costs. Predicting the exact cost is difficult, but poor power quality and poor power system performance can cause sufficient losses to justify fixing the problem.